As in physics and chemistry,
Americans have dominated the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine
since World War II. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the focal
point for biomedical research in the United States, has played a key
role in this achievement. Begun as a one-room Laboratory of Hygiene
in 1887, the National Institutes of Health today is one of the world's
foremost medical research centers, and the Federal focal point for medical
research in the U.S. The goal of NIH research is to foster knowledge
that helps prevent, detect, diagnose and treat disease and disability
- from the rarest genetic disorder to the common cold. NIH works toward
that mission by conducting research in its own laboratories, supporting
the research of non-Federal scientists in universities, medical schools,
hospitals, and research institutions throughout the country and abroad,
helping in the training of research investigators; and fostering communication
of medical information.

NIH
research has helped make possible numerous medical achievements. Mortality
from heart disease, the number-one killer in the United States, dropped
41 percent between 1971 and 1991. The death rate for strokes decreased
by 59 percent in the same period. More than 70 percent of the children
who get cancer are cured.

With the help of the NIH, molecular
genetics and genomics research have revolutionized biomedical science.
In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers performed the first trial of gene
therapy in humans and are now able to locate, identify, and describe
the function of many genes in the human genome. Perhaps the most exciting
scientific development in the United States is the Human
Genome Project. This was an attempt to construct a genetic map of
humans by analyzing the chemical composition of each of the 50,000 to
100,000 genes making up the human body. The International Human Genome
Sequencing Consortium, led in the United States by the National Human
Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the Department of Energy (DOE),
successfully completed the Human Genome Project in April 2003, more
than two years ahead of schedule.

Research conducted by universities,
hospitals and corporations also contributes to improvement in diagnosis
and treatment of disease. The NIH, for example, funds basic research
on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), but many of the drugs
used to treat the disease have emerged from the laboratories of the
American pharmaceutical industry.

Nuclear medicine
is a medical specialty used to image the body and treat disease. Nuclear
medicine imaging is unique in that it documents organ function and structure,
in contrast to diagnostic radiology which is based upon anatomy. Its
origins stem from many scientific discoveries, most notably the discovery
of x-rays in 1895 and the discovery of "artificial radioactivity" in
1934. Nuclear medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive materials
or radiopharmaceuticals, substances that are attracted to specific organs,
bones or tissues. The amount of radiation from a nuclear medicine procedure
is comparable to that received during a diagnostic x-ray. The radiopharmaceuticals
emit gamma rays that can be detected externally by special types of
cameras. These cameras work in conjunction with computers used to form
images that provide data and information about the area of body being
imaged.

Avian Flu
As of April 2006, outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza have
been confirmed among birds in nearly 50 countries, 28 of which reported
outbreaks since the beginning of 2006. Official figures from the World
Health Organization put the number of human cases at around 200 and
the number of deaths at over 100. Avian influenza has occasionally spread
from bird to human, but there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human
transmission at this time. An effective vaccine for humans has not yet
been approved. An International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza
was announced during the UN General Assembly in September 2005.

Texts
are abridged from U.S. State Department IIP
publications and other U.S. government materials.

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